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JYOTI MISTRY’S GRISLY NEW THRILLER IMPUNITY TO SCREEN AT DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Noir thriller “Impunity”, the latest film by celebrated South African director Jyoti Mistry, will be screened at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which opens on Thursday, 16 July, giving audiences a sneak preview prior to the film’s release in August. This follows the screening of the film in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

The film tells the story of a Special Crimes Unit investigator Dingande Fakude (Desmond Dube) and a local police detective and trained psychologist Naveed Khan (Vaneshran Arumugam), who find themselves caught up in political corruption and conspiracy when they investigate the gruesome murder of a cabinet minister's daughter, found in an exclusive African safari resort after a party celebrating her engagement to a rising political star.

A young couple, Derren (Bjorn Steinbach) and Echo (Alex McGregor), who were working as waiters at the engagement party, are taken in for questioning by the two lawmen. As they begin to piece events together, it becomes clear that there is much more to the high-profile murder case than first imagined. The two uncover a trail of murders and are faced with a moral dilemma involving the new political elite.

With the themes of corruption and brutality at its centre, Impunity is a profound investigation into contemporary South Africa and the seat of power. The film has been lauded for it rich visual language, which features picturesque beachfronts and bushveld, intercut with harsh CCTV footage. The Toronto Film Festival organisers described “Impunity” as “an eye-opening jolt, casting an unwavering gaze on South Africa's increasingly troubling surrender to the banality of violence.”

Mistry studied filmmaking and cinema studies at New York University. Her short films include “We Remember Differently” (2005) and “I Mike What I Like” (2006). “Impunity” is her second feature film, after “The Bull on the Roof” (2010). “Impunity” is produced by Shadowy Meadows Productions and Bioskope Pictures, with cinematography by Eran Tahor.

Impunity is being released by Indigenous Film Distribution at selected cinemas on 28 August.